MP3 of the week: The Gossip
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- FREE The Gossip MP3:
Download 'Sweet baby' - FREE The Gossip MP3:
Download 'Standing In The Way Of Control' (Le Tigre mix) - FREE The Gossip MP3:
Download 'Are you that somebody' (Aaliyah cover) - WEBSITE: The Gossip - official website
- MYSPACE: www.myspace.com/gossipband
Have you heard... The Gossip?
Hailing from hicksville Portland, US, The Gossip have been around for 7 years, yet they've only recently stormed the world's musical sensiblilties with the single Standing in The Way of Control, a pithy, indie-dance track with vocals like a mix between the late great bluesy Janis Joplin and late great disco-boy Sylvester. This Soulwax remix is also the track used to advertise the UK's Channel 4 edgy teen TV series Skins (which may have contributed to their recent exposure). The latter track is also the title of The Gossip's third album, which is set to become one of this year's must-have classics.
So who the hell are they and what makes them so special? The Gossip have been described as a rebel-punk soul trio with their roots in the punk Riot Girrrl movement. They are Nathan Howdeshell (aka Brace Paine) on guitars, Hannah Blilie on drums and larger-than-life songbird, Beth Ditto. Drawing from a wide range of musical influences, from art punk (The Slits, Sonic Youth) to soul divas (The Ronettes, Aretha Franklin, Billie Holliday) and back to early electro again (Delta 5, Gina X, Flying Lizards), The Gossip have done their home work and come up with a sound that is punchy, unique and intelligent.
Spokeswoman Beth Ditto describes herself as "a fat queer feminist" and has never cried shy of speaking her mind. Indeed, their torchsong Standing In The Way Of Control (which has must be the most remixed track of the moment) is a gay anthem about homophobia within the American government. Not your usual subject for prime-time radio, but The Gossip seem to have pulled it off quite successfully.
Ditto's a bit of a champion of the fuller figure and is quite happy to don a tight pink lycra catsuit to romp about onstage and is more than vocal about a woman's right to be whatever size she damn well wants, "It's so shallow to think that dieting makes you more complete. This whole size zero bullshit is absurd. You wouldn't want a zero on your exam paper. You wouldn't want a zero on your pay cheque. Why would any woman want to be invisible, to disappear?".
Voted NME magazine's sexiest woman in this year's polls, Beth Ditto's militant fat femme message might just be catching on...
by Amanda Prouten
More free, legal, downloadable MP3s from Mookychick:
ALTERNATIVE, NEW WAVE, FOLK, PINKFLUFF RETRO, BURLESQUE |
NOISE-POP, PUNK URBAN, DANCE |
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If you want to be MP3 of the week, send your details to mookychick at yahoo.co.uk and put 'mp3' in the subject header.
Thank you. Go, girl music! Live long and prosper xxx
More free, legal, downloadable MP3s from Mookychick:
ALTERNATIVE, NEW WAVE, FOLK, PINKFLUFF RETRO, BURLESQUE |
NOISE-POP, PUNK URBAN, DANCE |
Want to suggest an MP3 of the week?
Are you a major fan of a small all-girl band and want to help them promote their music?
Post their link on the Mookychick music messageboard and we'll do what we can to track them down and host them as MP3 of the week. Thanks for your direct action xxx
Disclaimer: To the best of our knowledge we only ever source mp3s from music blogs who are featuring the mp3s available for download legally. If you're a user and the link isn't there any more, we're sorry - it must have been a time-sensitive link, and you missed your chance for a free download. If you're a band and you don't like us hosting links to your mp3s, it doesn't matter if it's legal or not - we want to support you, so we'll take it down. Spread love, not fear.
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Mookychick believes that climbing trees and riding giant turtles is more fun and girly than worrying about make-up. But if you want to worry about make-up instead of turtles? Fine by us. Be you feminist, kitten, punk, emo, indie, goth, witch, vegan, horror junky, intellectual, christian goth, corset queen, geek, unicorn, sea monkey... be you into alternative style, alternative health, spirituality, comics, manga, j-pop, harajuku or jock culture... we will always love you.
